It is our pleasure to inform you that the Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, together with the Asia and Pacific Sociological Association (APSA) will host an international conference “Transforming Societies: Contestations and Convergences in Asia and the Pacific during February 15-16, 2014 at Chiang Mai University, Thailand.

The conference will be held as a part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Chiang Mai University, graciously joined by National Research Council of Thailand, Siamese Association of Sociologists and Anthropologists (SASA), and Chula Global Network.

In entering the 21st century, various countries in the Asia-Pacific region – from China to the Pacific Islands, from the South China Sea to the Indian sub-continent – are experiencing different degrees and speeds of urbanization, industrialization, and development, yet with diversity and paradoxes. Many countries face rising inequalities and conflicts that threaten their social fabric, stabilities, and social and environmental justice. The conference will be a platform for scholars, from sociology and other disciplines, to analyze and interpret changes in the 21st century, and to examine possible convergences, conflicts and negotiation, as well as suggesting alternatives for the benefits of the respective societies and for humankind.

We are now calling for individual abstracts and panel proposals which accommodate wide-ranging themes, for example:

Globalization and Urbanization Transition in Asia-Pacific

Democratization and Civil Society

Conflicts and Conflict Resolution

Religion, Politics and Contestations

Ethnicity and Multiculturalism

Aging Society

Urbanism and Public Space

Middle Class, Youth and Lifestyles

Media, Social Media, Information Technology and Media Industries

Regional Cooperation from Below

Consumerism and Cosmopolitanism

Transnationalism & Migration

Gambling Studies

Fifty years of Thai Social Sciences

We sincerely invite you to submit an individual abstract or a panel proposal which fits to one of these themes. As we are facing temporal limitation, we would be highly appreciative if this information will be distributed among your colleagues or students.

Conference Theme: Sociology and Social Transformations in the Asia Pacific region

The first Asia Pacific Sociological Association (APSA) Conference was held at the Philippine Social Science Center under the leadership of Prof. John Western (University of Queensland), Prof. Corazon Lamug (Philippine Sociological Society), and Dr. Virginia Miralao (Philippine Social Science Council) and a number of sociology colleagues from the Asia Pacific region in 1996. Since then conferences have been held at least every two years in South Korea, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Each conference has a specific theme which addresses the development of sociological research and scholarship in the Asia-Pacific region.

The 2012 APSA Conference will be held in Quezon City, Metro Manila at the School of Social Sciences, Ateneo de Manila University.